Monthly Archives: September 2010

One of our librarians made me aware of a resource that is available from the Newberry Library of Chicago. The material is titled “Chicago Biography and Industry File”. It is a 359 page PDF file that consists of 6 pages of bibliographic material in the Newberry collection covering Chicago biographies in the area of industry. The balance of the pages in this document is a gigantic list of names of individuals linking the name in the index to the page in the resource where the name can be found.

If you have any ancestors of note in the areas of business or industry in Chicago between 1876 and 1937, your ancestor’s name may even appear in this great index! Finding a name in this resource will automatically provide you with the resource from which it was found. You can then do further research in the material and see how your ancestor gained notoriety within the Chicago business and industry community during the time period covered.

You can see this possibly valuable resource material for your research by visiting it at:

See if you possibly have any famous ancestors in this massive list of names of important people in the area of business and industry from Chicago during the 1876 to 1937 time period.

Even if you do not find an ancestor in the name index, browse through the bibliographic material. There are some interesting titles that appear to provide a good overview of an industry or business that may still connect with some aspect of your genealogical research. Many of the titles appear to indicate that the material may connect to your ethnic area of interest e.g. I saw titles that focused on Germans, Poles, Swedes, Czechs, Norwegians and their contributions to Chicago business and industry.

Maybe you do not find a specific name in the index, but seeing the generality of the bibliographic material may make you aware of a resource that may help your research efforts in the ethnic groups mentioned in the title of the material.

Check out the material via the link and see if any of it can help you.

Please be sure to visit the web site of the society directly at www.nwscg.com to see biographical information about the speakers for each of the above programs as well as information for the location for the programs. Also visit the site above to just see what great information you can garner from the site about all things related to the society itself.

Mark your calendars for all of the above exciting topics the society will be presenting during 2010-2011.

This is the time of the year when many of the societies re-activate themselves after the summer “hiatus”. This society is one of those that was “dormant” during June, July and August.

They sure look like they have a great series of programs on tap for 2010-2011, all of which can help us learn a little bit more on how we can improve our own research skills.

Check out the society web page at www.nwscg.com and mark your calendars!

I just received a notice of an upcoming Pointers In Person (PIP) Italian Genealogy Group meeting that will take place in the Schaumburg Township District Library this Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 10:30 AM.

Please mark this quickly upcoming date on your calendars to attend the program if you are doing any Italian genealogy research. This group frequently meets at our library. There is no cost to attend this program that is open to everyone!

I thought I would post this reminder of our next upcoming Genealogy Program at the Schaumburg Township District Library.

There is no pre-registration required in order to attend the program. There is no fee charged to attend. Anyone can attend this program. You do not have to be a library card holder with the Schaumburg Township District Library in order to attend.

Here are the details of our upcoming program for Tuesday evening, September 14, 2010:

The Genealogy program will be held on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 7:30 PM in the 2nd floor Classroom. There is no formal presentation for this gathering. Instead, we will have our breakout group discussions so participants can work within a small group of people having specific interests in a common genealogical topic. The object is to share information and experience on this topic among those in the breakout group.

We are planning on having the same breakout groups we had in our previous breakout groups based on various nationalities. These will be Polish, Czech, German, Irish, British, Italian, Scandinavian, as well as Colonial American. There will also be a Beginners Group as well as a general all-purpose “troubleshooting” group.

A laptop computer connected to our projector will also be available in the room to use by those in attendance.

Some of the above mentioned groups may be eliminated if there are not enough participants in any one group to make it beneficial. Some groups that have not been identified may be added.

The doors to the room will open at approximately 7 PM so participants can pick up the handouts, review books and journals and interact with other participants. Tony Kierna, the STDL genealogist, will start the program at 7:30. Introductions of new participants will occur as well as a brief review of handouts and genealogical matters. It is expected that the breakout groups will form at around 8 PM. We will end the session by 9:30 PM.